On The Cusp, co-owned and driven by Steve Byron, will look for the biggest payday of her career when she goes to post for the $50,000 Girls’ Night Out Pacing Series final on Friday night at Mohawk.
The daughter of Camluck found the winner’s circle in the first leg, followed up by a fifth-place performance in the second round from Post 10.
“She’s been racing really well,” Byron said. “She’s got terrific gate speed, which I decided to use in the first leg, but in the second it’s a little harder from the 10-hole.”
The five-year-old miss has banked $204,970 in her career for Byron, who shares ownership with Craig Wallwin, Ian Macintosh and John Van Reenen. Byron’s brother, David, handles the conditioning.
“She took some time as a two-year-old to develop because she’s a big mare and needed to mature,” Byron said. “As a three-year-old she had a respectful campaign and has turned into a very credible older horse.”
On The Cusp has crafted an impressive 13-10-8 record from 63 lifetime starts.
“There’s no doubt she races better when she’s in the hunt or on the front-end,” he said. “She has proved to be a decent overnight horse on the WEG circuit and you can never complain about that.”
Looking ahead to the rich final, Byron believes there are a number of horses that could find the wire first.
“There are quite a few good horses that could win it,” he said. “There have been a few different winners from the divisions over the past few weeks, which sets up for an interesting race.”
On The Cusp has been assigned post 11 in the 12-horse field, a position Byron believes is not in his favour.
“When we won the first division of the first leg, we had a good post to work with and I used her gate-speed. Now, from the trailing position, we can’t use that. We can only follow the field out and hope to get landed well and work out a trip.”
The Girls’ Night Out Pacing Series is for older pacing mares, who are non-winners of $30,000 in 2012 as of midnight July 1, with a minimum of five starts this year. Winners of over $100,000 in 2011 are ineligible.
The final is slated for the same night as the Girls’ Night Out extravaganza. Ladies in attendance can win a pair of floor seat tickets to the upcoming Madonna concert at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
Also included in the package, the lucky winner will dine at the highly-regarded Turf Lounge, receive a $500 Elmwood Spa certificate and a one-night stay at the Royal York Hotel.
Each participant will also receive a complimentary $10 cash card to play in the exclusive Girls’ Night Out Handicapping Challenge. The Handicapping Challenge winner will walk away with the Madonna prize pack, valued at $2,000.
The contest is open to the first 50 women who register at Trackside Bar & Patio this Friday, August 10. Each person will also receive a complimentary Girls’ Night Out gift bag.
(WEG)
To view entries for Friday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Friday Entries – Mohawk Racetrack.